Pictures!

A faithful source of willing volunteers year after year, Bank of America returns for the third time in 2023, delivering yet another highly productive work session, taking on a variety of tough fall cleanups around the Academy's Iron Hill Museum/Schoolhouse, and also its Science Center. Thanks everybody!

Sigma Chi returns in 2023, with 11 volunteers who, in waning light of day, worked 2 hours but produced many more equivalent hours of productive results by clearing over 90% of the Academy's trails of debris. Well done!

As first-time volunteers at the Delaware Academy of Science, these local Church representatives tackle some challenging projects on Academy grounds: 1. extracting debris from the woods by 'human chain', 2. collecting stick debris from trails, and 3. cleaning out intrusive weeds from the Academy's drainage pond, in accord with tough environmental regulations. Well done! We hope to see them again soon.

Cub Scout Pack 252 turns out volunteers to Iron Hill Park faithfully every year at about this time. They do a thorough litter sweep of the entire upper Park area. Nice work everybody!

University of Delaware's QUEST event often brings a large contingent of volunteers to the Delaware Academy of Science, and they produce big results. This year they cleaned up the pavilion grove of sticks and debris, opened up some overgrown trails, and piled sawed tree trunks in the backwoods. Jobs well done; thanks as always!

This final "lift" was accomplished on May 20, 2023, but was preceded by multiple stages of reconstruction, supported by the work of many other key volunteers. Begun in 2022, the project required the fallen specimen log to be raised from the ground and positioned temporarily while new supports were created. A necessary delay followed, due to winter weather. That meant plenty of hard work in spring 2023, shoveling a deep hole and installing 3 concrete support forms. The next step was the critical concrete pouring (April 2023), followed by time to set up and dry. It still took plenty of fine teamwork as shown here to coax the log up onto its final, stable resting place. A job well done by all who had a hand in it.

An especially large B of A turnout tackled multiple tasks and made short work of them—re-staining benches and picnic tables, unearthing buried glass and other debris in the pavilion grove, and conducting a thorough cleanup of stick litter in grassy areas, as well as on most of the Academy's trails. Many key improvements made in record time!

A crew composed of Academy staff and regular volunteers, plus 2 Glasgow High School Air Force ROTC cadets and their leader, pitch in for the all-important concrete pouring of supports, which will permit the Academy's Petrified Log exhibit to be fully reinstalled shortly.

Yet another excellent crew of Bank of America volunteers assists the Delaware Academy of Science with multiple spring grounds maintenance chores. As usual, their hard work pays off handsomely!

The Iron Hill Park playground facility and surrounding area are marked by some tough cleanup assignments, which this group executed flawlessly. They're new to the Park but we hope they become regulars.

Yet another group of Bank of America volunteers—this time spreading mulch at the Iron Hill Science Center's pergola garden. With that accomplished, they went on to tackle the challenging de-weeding job in the adjacent Iron Hill Science Center drainage pond floor. A tough assignment, and they made great progress. A successful afternoon put in by this group—Thanks Everybody!

Another large group of University of Delaware's outstanding service program volunteers return once again in force, for a community service session on August 25, 2022. They tackled two challenging Delaware Academy of Science grounds projects with first rate results. Jobs well done; Thanks!

Regularly scheduled Iron Hill Park hikes, led by qualified volunteers, are conducted on the 2nd Sunday of each month, May – October, inclusive (see the Home tab). Hikers assemble at the top of the upper parking lot in Iron Hill Park. Hikes start promptly at 10:00 a.m.

University of Delaware's Sigma Chi Lambda volunteers mount a major effort in support of the Iron Hill Museum & Science Center's fall cleanup of its trail network. They got a lot done in a short time—Nice Work and Thanks!

The Scouts answer the call to help with cleanup and trimming of extensive trails in the Iron Hill Museum / Science Center backwoods. Nice work, everybody!

Bank of America volunteers tackle a tough clean up job next to the Delaware Academy of Science main building (and later on re-staining of the Museum's rear entrance ramp and picnic tables). They made it look easy. Thanks Everybody!

A regular grounds volunteer brings down an impaired, leaning, and risky tree along the Academy's African American (history) Trail. A tricky job well done!

Another wave of Bank of America volunteers lends a hand, this time in Iron Hill Park. They cleared tree debris falling on the Park playground, then teamed up to spread the remaining mulch in the adjacent Bark Park. Two major Park projects completed in no time. Nice work!

In March 2022 volunteers Bill Mills and Jerry Julian work to safely bring down, dismantle, and remove a dangerously hung-up dead evergreen trunk, precariously overhanging a much used trail on Academy grounds. Thanks guys for a job well done!

Same as last year, Pack 252 Cub Scouts, with their Cubmaster and several parents joining in, return for a repeat performance at Iron Hill Park, again completing an extensive litter cleanup in central Park areas including the playground. They did their usual thorough job, ending again with a group shot in the Park playground. Thanks everybody!

Friends of Iron Hill Park assist the Iron Hill Science Center and Museum at events such as the Archaeology and Heritage Festival (annual spring event) and the Iron Hill Powwow (in the fall). More recently, Friends volunteers cleaned moss from the Museum pavilion and hauled debris and yard waste from the grounds.

Members of the Troop return to the Iron Hill Museum grounds in July 2021, along with their Scout Life Rank candidate and project leader, his dad, and 283's Scoutmaster, to tackle an extensive trail debris cleanup project. Nice Job Everybody!

In August these Cub Scouts, with their Cubmaster and several parents joining in, tackled extensive litter cleanup in the center of Iron Hill Park. They did a fine job, then the Cubs assembled for a group shot in the Park playground. Good work everybody!

Starting in November 2021, students from this national service fraternity have volunteered generously and performed many and varied tasks, both at the Delaware Academy of Science, and in Iron Hill Park. They do a great job and we thank them!

One of the main features of the renewed park is a "Bark Park" where people can exercise their pooches without having them on a leash.

Our first volunteer contingent from University of Delaware's MLK Day of Service, in support of Iron Hill Museum grounds maintenance—they did a fine job and we hope they're back next year as well.

Troop 283 Life badge candidates put in a day at the Iron Hill Museum working on grounds maintenance in support of conserving the Museum's wooded 19-acre parcel. Thanks guys!

If you would like to have pictures of your kids here, email them to the webmaster at admin (at) friendsofironhill.org. Maybe he'll put them up.

This volunteer contingent set the record so far for attendance—nearly 50 volunteers turned out. They set to work getting the Museum grounds ready for the Archaeology Festival coming up in May 2019—and did a great job!

These outstanding community service program volunteers return again in force for their fall 2019 work day. They make the hard jobs look easy!

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University of Delaware service and community volunteer program; Iron Hill Science Center and Museum site cleanup.

Volunteers renewing the bark park mulch on May 5, 2018, led by Jayne and Tim Werbrich.

University of Delaware student volunteers from Alpha Eta Chapter, U.D.'s only gender-inclusive honor & service fraternity, doing clean-up of the Iron Hill Science Center grounds on 5-5-2018 in preparation for the Center's annual Archaeology Festival event.

Xander completing his project at the Museum for Scouting's Life rank.

Participating in a program called S.U.N.S - Students Uniting Neighborhoods through Service. That program was sponsored by the University of Delaware's Blue Hen Leadership Program, in partnership with United Way of Delaware. The kids worked hard and well, improving Museum trails every day for two weeks.

Hard work on a hot day in July.

Community service program volunteers turn out in force for a morning of productive work to improve and maintain Museum grounds.

First-time volunteer group at the Museum. They start strong with a solid day on the Museum grounds, including hoisting the massive filled-in pond frame posts out of the way in order to complete that task. Took all 12 girls—nice going!

Bank volunteers return in cooler weather, but put in another demanding work day maintaining Iron Hill Museum grounds.

University of Delaware's Alpha Eta Chapter volunteers return in October for work on key projects, both in Iron Hill Park and on the Iron Hill Science Center and Museum grounds on October 20 in preparation for the Center's Children's Harvest Festival event the next day.

These volunteers have contributed greatly to grounds maintenance and other tasks around Iron Hill Museum.

The Friends manage the Park bulletin board and update its contents regularly. The artwork and presentation are refreshed every change of season by Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and her young volunteers in Kindness Matters in Delaware (teen youth group), Girl Scout Troop 42, and Leasure Bears.

In 2011 New Castle County built a new, more public entrance to the Park, at 1337 Old Baltimore Pike. The entrance road is named Robert L. Melson Lane, after a founder and early steward of the Iron Hill Museum.